“Each step upward makes me feel stronger and fit for the next step” – GANDHI.
Every one of us has a privilege and the right to live and this comes with the great responsibility of improving our lives with the choices we make.
To those of us who are striving to become better with whatever we have set our eyes on, the key is to be able to stand on our own two feet. For me the key is to be more self reliant.
A famous Chinese proverb says “a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step” in the right direction of course. Without taking this step you will not move and be stagnant.
Whatever, you want to achieve in life cannot be achieved without you standing on your own two feet.
Get me right, yes you need people around you as you go on. You cannot succeed without people around you. But you need to be independent in your thinking and not be influenced by other people.
I have not come across a successful person who is a loner. In this article, I will try and outline the importance of standing on your own two feet.
Why Stand on Your Two Feet?
I believe that as a parent the best gift you can give to your children is the gift of freedom. When you are free you are at liberty to do what you want and express yourself to the max.
Allowing them to make decisions on their own and providing guidance as they learn to stand on their own two feet is the best way of helping them grow to be responsible for their actions.
When you teach your children how to catch fish, they will surely not be dependent on you for fish. They will go out there and catch the fish themselves when you cannot provide enough for them.
One of the biggest mistakes I see in our society today is that children are not taught how to catch fish at the right age. Instead they are only taught how to consume it. That is why you find a 30 year old baby.
Parents who continue to spoon-feed their children do not allow them to learn the realities of life. Hence the children will perpetually be dependent on them.
And we as parents complain that our children cannot be independent. I thank God for my late father who taught me to work hard for everything that I possess.
I realised at a tender age that my father’s assets are not mine but his and that if I wanted to use them I must ask for permission. He has the right to say no and dictate how I should use them because they are his after all.
Again I thank God for giving me a country where we have the freedom to do so many things without government interference.
Standing on your own two feet means freedom to me; freedom to express myself; freedom to do whatever I want to do.
We are born free to decide what kind of life we want to lead. Break the chains of dependency and enjoy the freedom of standing on your own two feet.
Enjoy the freedom to make choices that build on your character on a daily basis. We all should learn to stand on our own in whatever we do in life.
Be it financially or socially. We were created to core exist but to be able to stand on our own feet. When you are able to stand on your own, that is the time you can give the world your best.
How many of us enjoy being perpetual dependent on someone for survival? I certainly do not enjoy it.
Life demands that we move from being dependant to being dependable. We have a huge responsibility to be taken up that is to be dependable and not be a perpetual dependant.
There is nothing wrong though with being dependent in our infancy and childhood. We do not just stand on our two feet from nowhere but we learn to stand on our own through our everyday experiences and choices we make.
Learn From the Past
Learning is a continuous process. We are learning something new every day. It is this knowledge that we accumulate over time that helps us grow. Without which we cannot achieve much with our lives.
To be able to stand on our own we must learn and appreciate past experiences. They say experience is the best teacher, very true.
What you have learned through your own experience will stick to your mind much more than what is taught by someone else.
I personally have taught myself how to use most computer applications that I know of.
I have learned through experience that most accounting packages applications are almost the same, usually, the difference is minimal.
Notice that even when you are confronted with a situation that you have come across before, decision-making is usually based on past experiences.
Life has a lot of ups and downs. The people who have succeeded in life have failed before and people who are not successful are failures.
We all have come across challenging situations. Some have remained stagnant because they have accepted defeat.
Do not accept defeat but continue to soldier on. Personal growth does not come easy. The daily experiences we encounter add to our growth. Your life is an expression of your exposure and the decisions you have made.
Conclusion
To be on your own two feet is one of the greatest gifts you can ever receive in life.
We should always ensure that we are striving to be independent. I know that life has a lot of challenges and many of these are stepping stones to greater things.
We choose to accept what we cannot change and instead change our inner selves, learning whatever there is to be learned.
This is the only way we can grow and learn to stand on our own feet.